This invention relates to a safety device adapted to be secured to a wall of a structure, more particularly a fascia board of a house. The primary purpose of the device is to receive and laterally support and transfer a ladder, the load of the ladder itself and the load which the ladder is carrying directly to a wall of the structure to which the safety device is affixed. By so doing, the load in question is not transferred to a gutter, attached to a fascia board of a structure.
More particularly, the invention relates to a safety device designed to limit and prevent lateral slippage or similar movement of the upper end of a ladder, caused by normal body motion of a person standing on one of the rungs of the ladder when it is positioned to lean at an angle to the wall of a house or other building structure and at the same time transfer the ladder load to the structure wall and not to a gutter.
When a person desires to reach and gain access to an upper level of a vertical surface of a sidewall or the roof of a house, to make repairs for example, a person does so by placing a ladder of adequate height against the wall. More often than not, the ladder is positioned against a gutter, attached to the fascia board of the structure itself without any lateral restraints. Because of the nature of the construction of a gutter, the person ascending such a ladder faces the risk of falling from the ladder, with resultant physical injury. This risk is even greater when a person is standing on one of the uppermost rungs of a ladder whose upper end extends above the eave of the roof. In this event, the relatively narrow surfaces of the rails of the ladder usually laterally unrestrained rest against a relatively narrow, horizontally extending surface, as for example the outer edge of a gutter installed along the eave of the roof. Furthermore, the load of the ladder plus the person is on the gutter itself, both of which are undesirable.